SoS Soul of the Hunter
by The Admiralty
Summary: Saga of Souls Story 1. rated teen for mild violence, violent themes, mild suggestive themes and more then a bit of fridge horror. birth, life and death of a minor chara, exploring cultures and themes glossed over in the main story. minor bits of humor.
1. Blood & Silent Voices

Welcome, while I have been writing online for some time this is going to be my first crack at writing fanfiction. This is the first of three interlocked fanfics that will make up the Saga of Souls . Each will detail the life of one a 'minor' person from a setting. While each soul is independent of the others, some that share a setting may interact with the others, often in ways that aren t apparent until you read the event from the point of view of one of the other souls. This is mainly to take a deeper look at a setting, focusing on areas often left in the corners and shadows in the main stories. And so it is unlikely that the characters will interact with the 'main' cast, though i may throw in a few easter eggs for the very observant readers. I hope that you enjoy it.

This is the Soul of the Hunter. Part of the "Saga of Souls".

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><p>"and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."<br>-Deuteronomy 6:7

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><p>A cry of pain escapes the rough-cut stone house, followed by a calm voice that is all but drowned out by a woman cursing. Inside a number of women bustle about a pregnant woman laying on a blood-stained sheet. In the hands of one of the midwives is an infant child, looking like a normal Human child save for the tentacle-like strands that rose from his cheeks to wave in front of his face and grasping anything that came close enough. Carrying the still bloody child outside, the midwife raised him above her head and for the first time in his life the child was silent as he look out on the Silent Voices. As the woman below chanted the prays and benedictions that were say to bring the blessing of the ancestors on the newborn, the child reach upward toward the colorful and luminous bands spread across the starry vault, as if trying to touch them. And so the child drifted off to sleep, under the light of the stars and the Silent Voices, and lulled by the chanting and the soft, warm breezes.<p>

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><p>A child stood on a bluff overlooking several small stone buildings. Any baseline Human that looked on the boy would assume that they were five or six, but in truth it had been nearly twenty years since the child was born. It had been many years since the child had last seen either his father or mother, but such things mattered little in the Great Hunt, so he paid those thoughts no mind. At the moment his attention was focused more surely on the sky above him. It would be a few minutes yet before the sun had fully set, and several hours more before the night truly got dark.<p>

He looks back down at the town one finial time before setting off, heading farther away from the small outcropping of building. This was only his third trial, and as far a trials went this one would be rather easy. He only needed to head out a certain distance, survive a week, then return to town. Tonight promised to be clear and warm, but the rains would start before the trial was over.

It was nearly midnight before the child stopped walking. Looking around he decided that he had gone far enough from the town. The only thing he had been allowed for the trial had been a small, un-powered knife. Looking at the few scraggily trees that grew in the stony hills he quickly gave up any ideas about crafting a wood shelter. Sighing slightly, the boy clears a small patch of ground of sharp rocks and settled down to rest till morning.

Come morning, the boy set out to search around for any small caves that he could use for shelter. He wasn t hungry yet, but if he waited too long it would be harder to catch something to eat, so he kept an eye out for anything edible as he searched. It was well into the afternoon by the time he found a cave deep enough to keep him dry during the rains. Unfortunately, the cave delved deeper than the boy wished to explore, and he decided he should be careful in the likely chance that something else called the cave home as well.

It was well into the fourth day of the trial. The boy sat inside the cave chewing on a raw hunk of a lizard the size of his arm, the rest of which was sitting nearby. Outside the rain was falling in torrential sheets, and the boy couldn t see more than a meter or two out from the mouth of the cave. Some of the water from outside flowed into the cave, forming small rivers swirling deeper into the cave. Despite this, there where still plenty of dry spots that the boy could sleep on, and the water had flushed out the lizard that the boy was currently eating.

On the fifth night, the boy woke unexpectedly. Looking around for whatever had woken him, he pulled his knife from its sheath. After a moment a sound came rolling up from the depths of the cave. For a single terrifying moment, the boy thought that the cave was collapsing, but after a moment the noise stopped. Then a few moments later it started again, louder this time. Suddenly the boy realized that the cave wasn t collapsing, but rather something was coming up from deeper in the cave. Backing slowly toward the mouth of the cave, the boy noticed several things about the cave that he had not noticed before. Such was the fact that the cave was nearly completely round, and that it didn t grow bigger or smaller the deeper it went.

Turning and running the boy fled out into the rain, ducking around the corner of the entrance to the cave and pressing his back flat against the stone there. The roar came again a third time and the boy thought that the stone beneath him was going to crack under the force of the sound. And then he saw the beast.

Or more accurately he saw part of the beast. The cave was nearly five meters high in the center and the same at the widest point; even so the boy wonder how the beast managed to fit inside. It slid past, seemingly unending, as the boy watched in growing horror and terror. Seemingly an eternity later, the last of the beast slipped free from the cave and vanished into the rain. The boy did not sleep again that night.

On the seventh morning, the boy set out back toward town. Struggling through the rain and mud. It took him much longer to return to the town that it had taken to leave, and it was nearly nightfall again before he managed to stumble back into the main building in the town. Looking down at the young child dripping water and mud onto the floor, the town master had little to say beyond chiding the boy for nearly being late and to make sure that the boy would clean up the mess he was making before the evening meal was served.

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><p>Author s Notes: right. Originally, I had planned on having the first chapter cover the entire child period of his life, but it kind of got away from me. After I had finished the bit on the trial I realized I had enough for a chapter. So in all likelihood it will be a while before he finishes the child stage of the story. After writing this the plan is to write out the following: another trial; his naming; he leaves the planet; his first hunt. But seeing how well I follow plans *shrugs*.<p>

If any of y'all are wondering, he is an Anzat. The Anzat are basically star wars pseudo-vampires. More info about them can be found in the New Essential Guide: Alien Species book or on wookiepedia.

Comments, Suggestions, & Questions are all welcome and I will answer them as I can. Please no flaming. if you don t like my tale, use constructive criticism to tear it down instead (people are less likely to ignore a multi-paragraph post using logic and proper grammar, than they are a one-liner in all caps).


	2. Final Trial

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. -Isaiah 40:31

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><p>The five boys sitting around the fire in the stone building all looked to be about the same age. Despite the chill in the air, each boy wore little more than a loincloth. However, each loincloth was different from the next: one seemed almost as if had been hacked from the side of some beast, another was made from a number of leaves woven together, the third was made from long strips of wood bound by bits of old cloth, the fourth was all but hidden behind a curtain of beads and shiny stones, the finial loincloth was made of a single large scale that was the dark grey of old stone.<p>

The boys sit in silence save for the crack and snap of the fire. Each of the boys knows that only four of them will live to see the next sunrise. For the last fifty years, these boys had lived and worked together, and during that time they had grown as close as brothers. They had faced numerous trials together, and each had saved the live of the others at least once, if not many times more.

The day before, the five of them had been excitedly talking of which name they would choose, which planet and which culture they would hunt first. But that had all changed at sundown when the Huntmaster had told them of their finial trial. Before the night was over, they had to kill one of the others. The Huntmaster did not care who die, why, or by who, all that mattered was that in the morning, one of the boys would be dead.

And so the boys sat in silence, as outside the night was already half over. Eventually, one of the boys, the one with the hide loincloth, spoke up. He choose to speak in the old tongue, the ancient language of the Anzat that sounds like molten silver cascading over smooth stones.

if we make no choice, the Huntmaster will slay us all.

At this the other boys nodded, but could not bring themselves to start deciding which of them would not live until morning. As was common in trials, the boys had no weapons that would make the task easier. Only the knives they had received so long ago, and anything they had crafted since then. After another long silence, the boy with the bead loincloth spoke.

how shall we choose? Will we play games of the mind, or games of strength?

This managed to draw a short argument as to who would have the best advantage in each of the several possible tests they devised. After an hour of arguing back and forth, a way was decided. Taking five twigs in hand, the boy with the scale loincloth charred the end of four of them. Turning his back on the group, he hid the blackened ends in his closed fist with the unburned ends poking up. Closing his eyes, he held out his hand toward the group. As each twig was pulled from his hand, the boy remember the night long ago, before he had met his friends, when he had nearly been eaten and had found the scale in the cave afterwards. At last only one twig was left in his hand. He opened his eyes.

A quick glance told the boy all that he needed to know. Taking out his knife, the boy with the beaded loincloth cut four strands free from the cloth. Handing one to each of the other boys, he stood and walked away from the fire, stepping outside into the night. A few moments later there was a sickening gurgling and then quiet. Looking grimly at each other the four remain boys stood and stepped out into the night, going to show their friend gratitude one last time.

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><p>When the sun rose the next morning, the Huntmaster found four boys waiting for him outside the stone building. Each of the four boys had blood smeared up to their elbows. Stopping in front of the group, he asked them the last question they would hear as boys.<p>

what are your names?

The boy with the hide loincloth answered Drakim.

The boy with the leaf loincloth answered Plentoth.

The boy with the wood loincloth answered Kit-gou.

The boy with the scale loincloth did not answer for a long time. He stood there gripping the strand of beads tightly in his hand. Suddenly the boy knew the name that would follow him for all eternity. On the strand of beads his friend had given him was a certain type of stone, the name of that stone in the old tongue was Resi.

The Huntmaster nodded as the last boy spoke his name. taking out his knife, the one he had been given during his trials centuries ago, the Huntmaster cut his palm. Letting his blood flow, the Huntmaster pressed his palm against each of the four foreheads, leaving a bloody print. Now they were truly men, and ready to Hunt.

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><p>Author Notes: ya, i rolled chapters two and three into one, as neither of them was long enough as a stand-alone. If anyone was wondering, yes, Resi is the one we be following. But don t discount seeing one of the others again. ;)<p>

For the people wondering, I had planned to go into detail with each of the five boys. however i found I didn't have enough material to do so. my notes remain, so Resi will be having flashbacks to the time between chap 1 & 2 from time to time.

Again, comments and such are welcome. I will be trying to update once a week (on Monday) i am a little late this week due to one of my teachers being interesting. Anyway, this be not the place for school drama. Love you all.

TBC


	3. First Hunt

"And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes."

-Deuteronomy 6:8

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><p>Resi let out a deep breath, trying to calm and center himself. It would do no good if he got too worked up to catch anything. Walking along the street, Resi let the crowd carry him along. The plant was nowhere near as populated as the Coruscant or one of the other worlds like it in the core, but it had its share of large cities scattered across the world. At the moment the name of the world had slipped his mind, but it was of little import anyway. Resi didn't bother wasting time worrying about small matters like that. Only the Hunt mattered at the moment. He could almost taste the soup of his first prey. It would be easy to grab some random drifter, but to Resi that defeated the purpose of the Hunt. He had not trained for a hundred years just to pick off random strays.<p>

The city he was wandering through seemed to be based nearly completely on tourism and pleasure. Few of the buildings were more than a few stories tall, and alleys and narrow gaps between the buildings were omnipresent. While the warm breezes seemed to tempt everyone into shedding as much clothing as possible. Stepping out of the flow of the crowd and into the modest cover of a doorstep, Resi pushed a few errant strands of black hair out of his face.

One of the holoprojectors nearby was set on a news channel, at the moment the reporter was taking about how some trading group had blockaded a minor Mid Rim planet out in the Trailing Sectors. Not that Resi cared for such things, that was on the far side of the galaxy. Still, it must have been a slow news day for that to be reported at all. Hopefully, that would mean that the locals would be relaxed.

His hand strayed down to his belt, and the small length of beads hanging there. It had been only a few weeks since he choose his name; a few weeks since he had talked to his friends. Resi sighs and steps back out into the flow, focusing on the past would not help him Hunt. After a while, he caught the scent of someone with a powerful soup. A few moments later and Resi had identified the owner of the scent as a moderately built man with a wild tangle of gray hair that was stumbling down the street.

Following the man at a distance, Resi watches as the man stumbles into one of the many alleys in this part of town. By this time the traffic on the streets seemed to be getting thinner, or at least moving toward a different part of the town. Slipping into the alley after the man, Resi caught sight of him again, still stumbling around and grumbling to himself. He seemed to be quite drunk, but his cloths marked him as someone who was definitely well off.

Focusing all his will into the word, Resi calls Stop to the man. Jerking in surprise, the man halts, seemingly unintentionally. Stalking toward the man, Resi feels his probosces slip out of the pouches in his cheeks. The man turns and looks rather surprised, he takes a step backward then another. Stop Resi calls again, forcing the man to once again halt his retreat. Once again looking shocked by the betrayal of his body, the man takes a step forward toward Resi. Yes, come to me Resi calls as the man starts stumbling forward. Distracted by the almost overpowering strength of the scent of the soup, Resi didn't notice the glint of metal that appeared in the hand of the man until it was already swinging toward his flesh.

The deadly hum betrayed the presence of a vibroblade. Jerking backward, Resi felt his face explode in pain as a line of fire was dragged across his cheeks and nose. The man was slightly shorter than Resi, and so the blade had been angled upward, biting into Resi s eyes beneath the surface. If Resi had been any slower, the blade would have taken off a good portion of his head.

Fleeing wildly from the loudly cursing man, Resi ran further into the alley, turning into alley after alley in order to hide from the man. Finding himself bumping into one of the many large metal bins that he had seen earlier, Resi pushed up the lid slightly and pulled himself into the stinking interior of the bin.

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><p>It was some time before Resi came back to his senses. As he lay in the filth of the waste bin, he slowly raised one of his hands to his face, feeling the revolting texture of open and still bleeding wound and sending another jolt of pain through his body. Pain, he was used to, however, even in the dead of night, he should have been able to see something of his surroundings, but he was lost in a sea of the blackest ink.<p>

He lay there for some time yet, pondering the situation that he had managed to launch himself into. After a little more poking and prodding, Resi fully grasped the severity of his problem. His eyes were damaged, at best blinding him temporarily, at worse, permanently. His proboces where both seared clean off, and were unlikely to regrow, even taking into account the healing abilities of his people. His nose had been spilt open, and his sense of smell would probably be severely reduced in the future. And worst, His face had been carved nearly in two and he doubted he would be about to find any more pretty girls to keep him company.

Letting out a short chuckle at that last thought, he added one more item to the list, as a fresh burst of pain shot through him. And the wound was most likely infected from whatever this sludge was that he had been rolling around in. Wonderful, simply wonderful. Well, at the very least he wouldn't be bored for the next couple of days.

Letting out a sigh, resi sits up. And immediately lays back down as he slams his face into the metal lid of the bin. A few moments later, Resi decides that the best course of action would be to take things slowly.

After a few minutes of feeling around and getting his bearings, Resi noticed a slight glimmer that had escaped his attention before. Hopeful that his sight was beginning to return, Resi focused on the spot of light. Before long, the slight glimmer had gained resolution and clarity. Shifting and growing, the spot soon took the form of a man standing upright, _and standing just outside the bin_. Letting out a rather surprised shout, Resi bolted straight up.

"WHAT THE KRIFF?"

The man, who up to that point had been quite relaxed and relieving himself against the wall next to the bin, was treated to the rather unusual sight of a slime covered, blood-soaked, and screaming Thing rising up from the trash bin next to him. Promptly forgetting any previous business, the man decided that perhaps he should only relieve himself in designated locations from now on, and quickly left to go find one.

With the man having fled, Resi found himself once again blind. Wondering about this new turn of events, He half-dragged, half-stumbled out of the alley and back out into the main streets. It was not long after that that Resi found himself in an emergancy vehicle heading toward what he dearly hoped was somewhere with a large stock of painkillers.

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><p>Author Notes: Ok, bit of humour and some foreshadowing going on in this chapter. Next chapter, Resi figures some things out and gets some much needed medical help. Also, mind-bending drugs! YAY!<p>

Also, thanks to my proofreaders (I just managed to get some). you make this much easier. :D


	4. Light & Dark

"We know that in everything God Works for good with those who love him, who are called according to His purpose."

-Romans 8:28

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><p>Resi awoke some time later, at least he was fairly certain that he was awake. However, the main objection he could find to his being conscious was that most medical stations didn't have fog machines and light shows going on, as this one seemed to have. Additionally, most medical stations had walls. It took a few minutes of watching this tableau before he remembered why he was in a medical station in the first place. Waving his hand in front of his face a few times, then poking around the still fresh wound revealed that he wasn't 'seeing' the lightshow in the traditional since of the word. In addition he discovered that he had a rather large and stiff bandage across the lower half of his face.<p>

Hearing a door open and the slide closed again, Resi turned toward the sound. Trying to ask the person what was going on, Resi was quickly reminded of the bandage as it muffled his question. Letting out a slight 'hhhmmmm' sound from beside the bed, the newcomer loosened the bandage, both to check on the wound and to allow Resi to speak. "hmmm, ah. How are you feeling?"

Taking a moment to fully take stock of how he feels, Resi quickly comes to the conclusion that he was apparently floating on a fog bank, despite the circumstantial evidence. "… drugged … and slightly thirsty."

Letting out a small chuckle and apparently tapping something into a datapad, the doctor continued to poke and prod at Resi's wound. "it usually takes people a little longer to work that one out. And how about your sight? Anything unusual?"

Pondering where to tell the medic the truth, Resi decided it would probably be a good idea. "well, at the moment I can't see anything but fog and flashes and bursts of random light."

"hmmmm, that probably isn't a good sign. When you arrived here, you had a massive facial wound and were covered in trash. Would you care to explain how you managed to get that wound?"

Immediately realizing that the truth would be a very bad idea, Resi decided on a slightly altered series of events. "I was mugged. I must have lost consciousness during the attack. I woke up in a trash bin."

"hmmm, just so. It has been nearly a week since you arrived here. Unfortunately, your wound was infected, most likely from the trash. The infection spread to your eyes. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to halt the infection before it had done serious damage. It is likely that the damage will render you permanently blind. Once your wound has completely healed you will be able to get prosthetic eyes, however we will have to transfer you to a larger facility to do so, as we don't have the necessary equipment on-planet."

Resi sat for a moment and thought over that rather disturbing news. "In your estimation, how long until I can be fitted with the replacements and back about my business?"

Making a sucking, clicking sound, as if he had just started eating a mint, the doctor replied. "Tough to say, but it wouldn't surprise me if it takes 5 or 6 months for the wound to fully heal. If you are lucky the infection will have worked itself out of your system by then, if not it may be upwards of a standard year before you are ready for the implant surgery. And the rehabilitation time after the surgery is usually a few weeks, or more depending on how long the person has been blind. Care for a mint? They are very good."

Resi felt all the breath leave his body, it was if someone had rammed him in the stomach with a vibro-hammer. A year or _More_. It was unthinkable, he would go insane long before that. And beyond that, no other Anzat would so much as spare a glance for him, the stupid little child who had managed to blind himself and got his feeding tubes cut off on his first hunt. It was almost too much to bear, an eternity of loathing and being ostracized. Startled back to the present moment by the feeling of a small hard mint being dropped into his hand.

"don't worry about it too much, it isn't the end of the 'verse. Good things can yet come from this. Anyway, I need to check on some of the others. I will be back in a bit." the doctor states before walking back toward the door. As the door clicked closed, Resi could almost swear that he could see the outline of the door closing mimicked in the swirling insanity of the fog filled lightshow.

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><p>AN: sorry about the horrible delay on this chapter, I ended up having to rewrite it several times before it felt right. Combined with the fact that I am writing by the seat of my pants, I will be posting new chapters as I write them. Hopefully that will be at least one a week, but….<p> 


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